July 2004

[Image: Turning The Place Over by Richard Wilson; image via the Daily Mail].

In a project that "will astonish the commuters of Liverpool," sculptor Richard Wilson has turned part of a building's facade inside-out. As if learning from Gordon Matta-Clark, Wilson sliced an "egg-shaped section" out of the building's facade – "fixing the eight metre diameter piece on a pivot" so it can spin.

[Image: Turning The Place Over by Richard Wilson; image via the Daily Mail].

The "rotating facade" will thus "reveal a glimpse of the interior" – for the low, low price of £450,000.

This is a magical installation, and one with profound meaning and impact. 'Turning the Place Over' does exactly that - by disrupting the certainties of architecture and of apparently inevitable decay, we see something strange, beautiful and hopeful. As a result, the building, the city and our expectations are all 'turned over' by this work.

Raising the issue of price is rather philistine, but having seen a presentation on the work's installtion, I can only presume that the intricate engineering and building work alone have contributed much to the costs. In any case, what price quality?

Wow! that is very expensive and absolutely serves no purpose other than a laugh to the commuters. I really think the building would do better with a paint job. None the less, its marvelous to see something like this. But the money? Give to charity? I think thats a better idea.

"a homage to Gordon Matta-Clark" .... GMC cut with his own hands, he sqautted empty buildings and made poetic, surreal icons out of the derilect with simple direct actions. always temporal, thoughtful without being contrived... this is a "sell out" of GMC. This big Disney-esque production has none of the spirit. This is not surreal, its prop making engineering.

I have actually seen this art in person. It is a great piece of art when you walk down the street but then knowing how much it costs does make it a waste of money.The building doesn't have inhabitents it is an old abondoned building of an old Yates's wine bar. I did think that it perhaps would have been better done on an abondoned building closer to some landmarks, as when we were walking to it it was almost like, 'what could possibly be down here'. However that was howmost of the exhibitions were in the Liverpool Biennial.See it in close though, it really is something else.

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BLDGBLOG ("building blog") is written by Geoff Manaugh. The opinions expressed here are my own; they do not reflect the views of my friends, editors, employers, publishers, or colleagues, with whom this blog is not affiliated. More.